The key brains behind collapsed e-commerce startup Copia Global have launched new businesses in Kenya, just months after the company shut down in the wake of raising at least Sh15.8 billion ($123 million) from investors.
Timothy Steel, the former CEO; Michael King, former CTO; and Tracey Turner, Copia’s co-founder and former executive chair, have jointly started a new e-commerce firm known as Stahili, with Steel as CEO, King as CTO and Turner as chairperson.
Official ownership records from the Business Registration Service (BRS) show that Stahili is fully owned by Copia Holding Company –a US-registered entity linked to Copia Global and its founder, Ms Turner.
While Copia Global, which was also incorporated in the US, ceased operations completely in 2024, the holding entity appears to remain active and rekindling activities through the new venture.
Mr Steel and Mr King are listed as directors of Stahili, and the firm’s listed contact details—including phone number, postal address and email –are tied to Mr Steel. The company was incorporated in June 2024, just a month after Copia entered administration amid financial distress.
Stahili describes itself as an e-commerce platform offering users discounted deals, cashbacks, and mobile data rewards in exchange for responding to surveys and product feedback.
According to Ms Turner’s LinkedIn profile, the firm draws inspiration from the early business models of Groupon in the US and Coupang in South Korea –two platforms that rose to prominence by linking merchants with value-seeking consumers.
“Similar to Groupon’s early success in the USA and Coupang’s success in South Korea, Stahili is an e-commerce company that gives middle and lower-income Africans a voice and empowers them with purchasing opportunities that make their lives better every day,” writes Ms Turner.
When asked to comment on the firm’s business model and plans by the Business Daily, Mr Steel said he was unavailable to respond at the time. Stahili’s website confirms the firm is already operational and targeting consumers in Kenya.
Recent updates from the three executives show they formally took up their roles at Stahili in August and September—around the same time Copia’s administrators opted to liquidate the company’s assets to settle creditors and wind down its remaining operations.
In addition to Stahili, Ms Turner has co-founded another company—Olverra—an e-commerce platform aimed at helping African artisans sell their products in international markets, starting with the US. She is currently listed as executive chair of the venture, which is headquartered in the US but operates in Kenya.
There is no data at the BRS about this company, which means it is either yet to be registered, or it is incorporated outside Kenya. Information from LinkedIn shows that Ms Turner started the company with Vijay Otieno, a Kenyan data engineer, who is currently listed as CEO.
Founded in Kenya in 2012, Copia Global had built its business model around serving middle- and low-income households through a hybrid of digital ordering and last-mile logistics. It grew rapidly, supported by its agent-based distribution model and in-house delivery network.
The firm raised an undisclosed seed round in 2013 led by Savannah Fund, followed by over $123 million (Sh15.8 billion) from global investors across seven funding rounds. Its final raise –a $20 million injection—came in December 2023, just months before the company collapsed.
Copia’s investor list included DOB Equity, Goodwell Investments, Lightrock, the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and Enza Capital, among others.
Despite the significant capital inflow, Copia did not turn a profit in its 12 years of operation. It pursued a “growth-before-profit” strategy –common among venture-backed firms—prioritising rapid market expansion and customer acquisition over near-term financial returns.
As the company scaled operations across Kenya and briefly into Uganda, mounting operational costs, thin margins, and a tough fundraising environment took a toll. Copia closed its Uganda office in 2023, entered voluntary administration in May 2024, and was officially liquidated by September.
While there has been no public statement from Copia’s investors on the new ventures, some analysts say the pattern of high-profile startup failures in Kenya, particularly those backed by foreign capital, points to deeper issues in the ecosystem.
“What we’ve seen in our research is financial misappropriation, which means that startups with very good ideas seek funding, but that money is misappropriated in terms of building and scaling that startup to a point where it can be stable and self-finance,” said Kagwe Mutahi, CEO of Africa Insights Consulting, a business advisory firm.
But Mutahi cautions against writing off founders based on failure alone.
“Just because somebody starts a company and fails doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a second chance. It means that they’re wiser for it because there’s something that they learnt.”
Sources familiar with the Copia executives had predicted that they would come up with a new venture, but details of the new story had remained sheltered.
